District magnitude and representation of the majority’s preferences: a comment and reinterpretation

John Carey () and Simon Hix ()

Public Choice, 2013, vol. 154, issue 1, 139-148

Abstract: Drawing on new data that combine recorded votes from the Swiss National Assembly with canton-level referendum results on identical legislative proposals, Portmann et al. (Public Choice 151:585–610, 2012 ) develop an innovative strategy to identify the effect of district magnitude on the relationship between representatives and their constituents. We replicate PSE’s central result and also estimate a related model that allows for the possibility of non-monotonicity in the relationship between district magnitude and representatives’ deviance from referendum median voters. Our results indicate that representatives elected in low-magnitude multi-member districts deviate from canton-level majorities less than either MPs from single-member districts or those from high-magnitude multi-member districts. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Keywords: Representation; Electoral systems; District magnitude; Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-012-0023-0

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